In December of 2003 a DJ named Dori Hadar was flipping through some record bins at a Washington D.C. flea market when he made one of the best finds of recent time. He discovered a motherload of intricately crafted handmade records (complete with gatefold interiors, extensive linear notes, and drawn vinyl grooves). The records were the handiwork of the Imaginary Soul Superstar Mingering Mike. Hadar put his real life detective skills to work (his day job is criminal investigator) and soon met up with the man himself.
You may recall the story, in 2004 it was a popular item on the internets (link) and Neil Strauss did a piece for the NYT. Now, Dori Hadar tells the whole story about a solitary boy who lost himself in his own imaginary superworld making super-hit collections and soundtrack music for made up movies like "you only know what they tell you" in a new book from Princeton Architectural Press (link)
PAP puts out great books (coming soon: the Dave the Spazz edited Best of WFMU's LCD book) and this one is no exception, its full of gorgeous reproductions of the Mingering Mike album covers, the fake Vinyl, and the 45s. The book won't be in stores for a few more weeks, but you can get a copy on Amazon starting today. (link)
And there is music too. Mingering Mike has (of course) a myspace page (link) with a few tracks up, and here is another one: There's Nothing Wrong With You (mp3)
this book is truly amazing.
without a doubt- one of the greatest recent finds.
mingering mike is a forward thinking genius making art for the realest of reasons.-
because he had too.
and what a good idea. = ficticious records.
Posted by: joe | April 11, 2007 at 12:06 PM